Device to facilitate the removal of ice trays



June 27, 1950 w, M, ALLEN HAL 2,512,759

DEVICE T0 FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF ICE TRAYS Filed Feb. 26, 1947 I NVEN TORS.

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Patented June 27, 1950 EUNITFED STAT-ES PA-TENT ...orF1cE .DEVICE .TOFACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF .ICE TRAYS William M. Allen; Glendale, andRobert A. Anderson; Hamilton: Ohio, assignors .to tModel .Crafters Inm;Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 26, 1947,Serial No. 731,156

This invention relates to a device to facilitate the'removal of ice cubetraysfrom-the'shelves of a refrigerator evaporator.

*Mostmodern refrigerators are provided with an evaporator or freezingunlt-having a compartment with shelves-therein. The walls of theevaporator and usually also the shelves contain or have associated withthem conduits or resortofbuilt in freeingclevice the average housewifewill use a screw driver or a can openeror the like with attendant damageto the evaporator or trays.

Itis an object of our invention to provide :an

accessory which can be. used-with existing units prefer to use-wireof athickness on the order of which; will eliminatedamage. to;.theevaporator ortrays and which will greatlysfacilitate. thezremoval of .anice .cubetrayfromthe evaporator.

It 1 is another. object .of .our. invention to.:provide a device asoutlined .above which will tend. to

prevent the icecube. tray from freezing tothe shelf. Further objects ofour invention include the provision of such a device which is extremelysimple and inexpensive in construction and fool proof in operation.

These and other objects of our invention which will be pointed out inmore detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in theart upon reading these specifications, we accomplish by that certainconstruction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now describecertain exemplary embodiments.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our device in one of its forms.

Fig, 2 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale taken onthe line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view showing a modified form of the device.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view showing a modified handle structure.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of our invention.

= 3 Claims. 01; 62-1) "-Fig'. '7 is a cross sectional view taken on theline 'I-lof Fig. 6.

' Briefly in the practice of our invention we'provide anelement adaptedto rest upon the shelf 5 "of a refrigerator evaporator upon which anicecube tray canbe supported in spaced relation to said shelf. The elementis so constructed-that it will have substantially line contact withtheshelf to minimize the surface in contact 'and 10 therefore to minimizethe tendency'of the parts 'to freeze together, and it will preferably becoated with a freezing inhibiting paint.

The preferred form of our device, as shown in Figs. land 2, comprisesasubstantially rectangu- 'lar loop 'of'wire having-the long sides Illand H and the short sides l2 and 13. The end of the wireare broughttogether within a sleeve M, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The end of theloop adjacent the sleeve M is bent up as at It to pro- .20 vide a.handle portion.

We have found that if the ice cube tray is supported at too great adistance from-the'evaporatorshelf, ice will not be formed in the tray asrapidly as might be desired, and we therefore 3% inch. This appears tous to be a very satisfactory compromise between too great an increase infreezing time and toogreat a tendency for the parts to'freeze together."With a wire 3001f" a thickness of about inch, the device will havesubstantially line contact with the shelf and any freezing which takesplace between the parts will be along a thin line which can readily bebroken loose. In order to further fulfill the 5 objects of ourinvention, we prefer to coat the wire, as for example, by dipping orspraying and then baking, with a freezing inhibiting paint. Such paintshould be able to withstand low temperatures and be resistant toabrasion. We pre- 40 fer to use a plastic paint, such as is commerciallyavailable under the name Amercoat manufactured by American Pipe andConstruction Co. This is a plastic paint whose main constituent is vinylplastic. The wire itself can be of any kind having sufficient strength,and we prefer to use wire of characteristics similar to that used incoat hangers.

The sleeve I4 is preferably made from extruded plastic tubing and mayhave an outside diameter, for example, of inch.

The loop is made of such dimensions that it is universal in itsapplication. We have found that if the wire loop is approximately 2inches by 8 inches, even the smallest ice cube tray now on the marketwill fit on it.

coating of the freezing inhibiting paint is indicated at l9.

In Fig. 4 we have shown a modification in which the end [2 of the wireloop is rounded as,

at l 2a, and in Fig. 5, we have shown a modification of the handleportion Where the ends of the wires, after having been bent up as at a,are lapped as at [9 and 20. These portions I9 and 4 wire we use can bereadily bent without deleteriously affecting the coating. Thus, ifperchance the loop of one of our devices should be too long or toonarrow for a particular use, it may easily be bent by hand to thedesired shape.

It will be clear thatnumerous modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of our invention and we therefore do notintend to limit ourselves, except as pointed out in the claims whichfollow.

Having now fully described our invention what we claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device of the class set forth, comprising an element adapted torest upon the shelf of a refrigerator evaporator, and to support an ice1 cube tray in spaced relation to said shelf, said may then be solderedor welded together. In

this modification we do not use the plastic sleeve 14, but we coat theportions I9 and 20 with the same freezing inhibiting paint.

In Figs. 6 and '7, we have shown a further modification in which,instead of a Wire, we use a flat strip of sheet metal 2!, provided withan I upstanding central rib 22. The rib 22 has the same function as thewire in the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 in that it providessubstantially line contact with the refrigerator shelf. While we haveshown this embodiment with the rib 22 disposed downwardly to contact theshelf, it could also be disposed upwardly so as to contact the tray. Inany event with this embodiment there may be a tendency for the fiatsurface-t0 adhere to the shelf or tray, depending upon whether the ribextends upwardly or downwardly respectively, but in either case thefreezing contact between the rib and the other of the two surfaces canbe easily broken.

The embodiment of Figs. 6 and 7 will also be coated with a freezinginhibiting paintas described above.

While we have shown the device as a separate article, it will of coursebe understood that it may be made a part of either the tray or the shelfby being welded or otherwise suitably fastened thereto. In such case thehandle portion could conveniently be omitted, and the device wouldcomprise simply a, pair of coated wire runners, a coated wire loop orother suitable configuration.

It is also worthy of mention that the coated element havingsubstantially line contact with one at least of the surfaces of saidshelf and said tray, said element comprising a, rectangular metal loopmember, the ends of said metal p member being axially aligned in a shortside of a rectangle and being enclosed in a tube of thermallynon-conductive material, the ends of said metal loop member adjacentsaid tube being bent upwardly to form a handle member, and said metalloop member being coated with a freezing inhibiting paint.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which said rectangular metal loopmember is constituted of a strip of sheet metalhaving a substantiallycentral stiffening rib of narrow cross section.

3. A device according to claim 1 in which said rectangular metal loopmember is constituted of a length of wire.

WILLIAM M. ALLEN. ROBERT A. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileofthis patent: I

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,751,899 Whitfield Mar. 25, 19301,851,740 Townsend Mar. 29, 1932 1,932,731 Hathorne Oct. 31, 19332,006,169 Harris-Jones June 25, 1935 2,032,534 Gaugler Mar. 3, 19362,035,679 Thompson Mar. 31, 1936 2,429,521 Marquis Oct. 21, 1947

